When TIME National Politics Reporter Eric Cortellessa asked Donald Trump in April how he plans to carry out the "largest deportation operation in American history" if elected in November, the ex-president replied: "We will be using local law enforcement."
Local law enforcement candidates — both Democratic and GOP candidates backed by Trump — in Miami-Dade County, Florida, told Miami Herald in a recent interview that they don't plan to assist the former president with this plan.
"As far as I’m concerned, if the law stays the way it is, immigration stays in their lane and I stay in mine," Republican sheriff candidate and veteran police union boss John Rivera told the Florida newspaper.
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Miami Herald reports:
A spokesperson for Trump’s campaign did not respond to the Herald’s request for comment on how he sees the role of local law enforcement in carrying out his mass-deportation promises. U.S. law states that federal officials can’t deputize state or local law enforcement officers to carry out the work of federal immigration officers without permission from the agency’s head — like, for example, a sheriff. But even the candidate endorsed by Trump in the race — Rosanna Cordero-Stutz — said that she would only be willing to help federal immigration agents in limited circumstances.
The newspaper also notes:
Currently, the county’s Democratic mayor, Daniella Levine Cava, oversees the Miami-Dade Police Department, which would become the county Sheriff’s Office in 2025. Florida rules also require partisan elections for sheriff, meaning Republican and Democratic voters will select their nominee for sheriff in the Aug. 20 primaries. Despite the partisan incentive of Republican candidates to align themselves with Trump, there’s a divide over immigration enforcement between the presumptive GOP nominee and Miami-Dade’s GOP sheriff candidates.
Candidates assert that participating in Trump's deportation ploy "would erode the community’s trust in law enforcement and pull officers away from their ultimate mission of ensuring public safety," the newspaper reports.
Florida Highway Patrol Trooper Joe Sanchez — who's also a GOP candidate — emphasized, "We’re not going to help the president on that one."
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GOP candidate Jose Aragu added, "Quite frankly, I don’t think we have the time for that."
Miami Herald's full report is available at this link.
